This had to just about be the worst idea that Aster had ever had. Well maybe not the worst, seeing as he’d recently made a sequence of decisions ending in his temporary demise. But this was definitely bad. He’d been unable to get hold of his phone, unable to track down his friends in person, and so he felt forced to turn to the last place they were likely to be. Aster had been up here before, wanting to heal the flowers left in tribute but not since he’d got back. Not since he had his own grave.
At first he didn’t know where to look but the newer graves were obvious. And there were so many. Aster’s hands balled into fists at his sides as he thought about how the rest of them didn’t get to come back, the rest of them were gone. But here he was, out of everyone, he’d been saved. He was sure that he’d never feel like he deserved it.Â
Aster walked through the rows as he scanned the new gravestones, partly looking for his own and partly checking for what must have been the hundredth time that none of his friends were here. Then a second before he walked into him Aster noticed a man blocking his way and stopped. He couldn’t see the man’s face but he was staring at the grave in front of him. Aster let his eyes scan the name, his heart stopping as his brain processed what he was reading. It was him. His name. His grave.Â
He looked again at the man as it all fell into place. Aster’s eyes began to fill with tears as he felt his way around the word, willing himself to speak up. “Al...” He said, voice choked and quiet in the silence of the cemetery.Â
